Josh's Muscle Muffins

"Josh's Muscle Muffins"

(Flourless, Low Fat)

Vanilla Creme' Brown Sugar Muffins

• 50g light butter
• 2 large egg
• 150g unsweetened applesauce
• 50g vanilla whey (protein content, not dry weight) concentrates work better than isolates
• 20g fat free sugar free vanilla JELLO pudding mix
• 120g quinoa flour
• 4tbsp brown sugar
• 4 packets stevia
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup unsweetend vanilla almond milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Melt butter in a large mixing bowl. Stir in applesauce and let cool until mixture reaches room temperature or slightly warm.
3. Beat eggs into mixture and then mix in vanilla whey, pudding mix, flour, stevia and baking powder. Add in almond milk last and mix well.
4. Spray a 12 cup muffin tin with non-stick butter spray. Fill each mufin cup almost to the brim with batter. Yields 9 large muffins.
5. Sprinkle brown sugar on top of each filled muffin cup.
6. Bake for 15 minutes until you can place a toothpick in the center and it comes out clean. Enjoy!

Enjoy this homemade BETTER BITE!

Tasty Tuesday's Shift from vlog to blog!

Hello gang! News for you! Been almost 2 weeks since I posted and not because I have not been busy eating amazing foods, trying new recipes and finding ways to bring you A Better Bite but rather because my vlog series over on YouTube has been siphoning off some of the content I could be, should be and now, will be posting up and writing about right here for you all to see.

Every week starting next week Sept 20th, I will post up a "Tasty Tuesday's" feature that will show 2 of the best recipes I have found, made and enjoyed. Understand that I find 20+ recipes a week but only half are within my nutritional needs, taste preferences, time availability, and skill level etc.....and of course, I must enjoy the end product as well. If any recipe falls short of those 5 parts I will not feature it as it's not worth your time or effort to make.....it is not truly A Better Bite.

I will also put up pictures and summaries of my every 6th-day re-feeds as well. These are those days as I discussed before where I almost triple my normal daily carb intake over the other 5 days to keep progress rolling in my contest prep dieting for Nov 5th and Nov 19th contest coming up this fall. These are always fun and delicious days for me as I often allow myself flour and wheat based carbs into my diet which I normally omit 100% due to blood sugar issues I have with almost all such products. My top foods you can expect to see me do refeeds with are:

• pancakes minus butter and syrup
• french toast minus butter and syrup
• waffles minus butter and syrup
• kids cereal with almond milk
• bagels minus cream cheese
• classic sushi rolls
• yams with honey
• oatmeal with fruit

Note once again that a refeed day is NOT a cheat day or a cheat meal. I dumped those out after 11 weeks into prep. This is why I still have limits to how much carb I have on refeed days, what kind, how much fat I consume on these days and how much protein I consume on the days. It's not a free for all just to be clear. I give a pretty good review summary of how a refeed day benefits me physically in my vlog series Tasty Tuesday Episode II so check that out for full insights.

So without going too much longer let's get to the food and show you what grubs I am putting down the hatch this past week!

Recipe 1 for the week I made on my own and really like is here:

Crustless Protein Pumpkin Pie

Recipe 2 for the week I found online, made it and really liked, is found here:

Brown-Sugar Butterscotch Cookie (made mine into 1 giant cookie and cut into 8 slices)

Recipe Link

And of course....... the big kahuna! The refeed/carb up meal that took place Saturday evening.......

3lb turkey burger (2lb burger and 1lb fresh made in house wheat bun) and 1lb wedge cut fries!

 My 4th year in a row partaking in the annual national burger day event at Fudds! In it to win it!

Close up shot of the goodness before I went to town on it....that's deli mustard by the way......I love ALL mustard types!

Here we go!! Grub Gains time!

And here we have a 4-pete win at my best time yet without really trying to eat very quickly at all......26 minutes (34 minutes remained) to pound down the delicious burger that no else makes quite like Fuddruckers can.

I am told the key to their unique one of a kind turkey burgers is that they sear it for 4-5 mins a side then finish it in the oven for time to assure its cooked through and has a nice finished sear but does not dry out as most turkey burgers often do. And of course, I would argue that Fudds has the best burger buns anywhere all due to the fresh baked in house buns they whip up daily. How do you top that!?

Tasty Tuesday II- The Pancake Encore

Hello blog fans and followers! I write this blog post from Madison, WI vice the room of my home in San Diego, CA. I am home on leave during my own 32nd birthday and my younger brothers upcoming wedding day Sept 10th! Lots going on but none the less.....I come to you with a blog post update and this time you get some live video action to go with it!

As of last week I started featuring a Tasty Tuesday feature to my vlog on YouTube which basically is me filming a summary video of my weekly re-feed/carb-up day which I now employ as part of my final 9 weeks of contest prep for my Nov 5th fitness performance. Every 6 days I include a large carb-up or "re-feed" day/meal into my dietary program. Last week was pancakes and this week was.......yes, more pancakes! As a true pancake-aholic of the most sincere kind I can never get enough of them but sadly because of my wheat (not gluten) sensitivity I rarely get to indulge with them unless I make my own from scratch at home (which I do very often!).

However when its carb-up day I flex the rules a bit and since its done later in the day as my last meal post training, the aftermath of getting super sleepy is a moot point as I can crash and sleep like a baby all night without issue. The video below will explain this more so listen carefully to see how this works exactly.

In this video I compare a short stack (3) from 4 of the largest chains in the USA.

Dennys, IHOP, OPH, and Perkins. All classic buttermilk variety so that direct comparisons could be made.

Forgive me for labeling the Denny's and OPH containers backwards in the video. It dawned on me shortly after I had done so but to give proper respects and credit where it is due, I want to point this out now and in the VIDEO as well.

I will kickstart you appetite with some pictures but the video is where the action is so please go take a look at that then make your choice as to where you plan to find your next "Better Bite" in the kingdom of the most popular pancake chain restaurants wherever you may live.

PERKINS PANCAKES (TANGIEST)

ORIGINAL PANCAKE HOUSE (SMALLEST)

IHOP PANCAKES

DENNY'S NEW PANCAKES (BIG AND THICK!)

Donut Daze

 A recent work event/meeting had me sent off to the corner of 30th St and Monroe St in North Park to grab what was easily a majority vote for some donuts to bring back for the group. Leave it to the dieting fitness guy to be the one who has to go pick up donuts right? However that may be the safest route in hind site as the likelihood of a few donuts going missing or the "oh they must have shorted me a couple" excuse is almost non existent.

I swung by NOMAD Donuts about 915am on a Tuesday morning and was told to pick up a wide range of all types of donuts they have. 2 dozen to be exact. With full range of what to get I did just that and after scouring the very unique and unorthodox menu listed for the day (it changes daily) I went with all 10 specialty donuts, all 10 traditional donuts and 4 good ol' donuts. The only one I was not able to grab was the vanilla bean good ol' donut as they were already out for the day. I thus doubled up on the maple donuts to round out the order.

Nomad Donuts will have been in business at this location for 2 years this November with no sign of slowing down as I was told they are expanding soon to a 2nd location which tells me San Diego folks know where to find a good donut and if supply-demand holds true.....demand is certainly high!

Brad pictured below (right) and Kristiana (left) are the two wonders behind Nomad Donuts. Brad the owner and Kristiana the head chef are responsible for their one of kind daily variable menu listings, all natural, fresh baked, in-house vegan and traditional donuts. Even their base recipe for their donut batter base is propriety I am told. Meaning you cannot find another donut like theirs anywhere else. All their donut toppings/icings come from real fruit, vegetable extracts and spices to give that true flavoring vice chemical additive which I can appreciate myself.

The most kick ass part of the whole deal......when I decided to make this trip a blog post review..... I told Brad this just to be transparent with him and to let him know it was my debut visit as well. He gave me the "ra-ra" discount which means HALF OFF! I was thrilled! 24 amazing donuts at half price.....score!

Now to answer the burning question.......I do a review on donuts for a blog post without trying any due to my current diet?! Yes and no is my answer. Being this was on a Tuesday re-feed day I was lucky enough to have the dietary allowance to have a much higher carb intake then any other day of the week. I thus made room to account for a "sample" of each donut pictured below. I literately cut out a bite size piece of each donut before my comrades could engulf them, saved it for after my training session later on and savored the crap out of every single bite! Those were the best 24 bites of "carbohydrate nirvana" I have had in my 10 weeks of dieting! I could have easily pounded half the donuts myself had I wanted to and those of you who know me.....know full well I could do it to!

Safe to say that after this review I had most definitely found A Better Bite.....24 of them to be exact! Now you can too!

Kristiana left and Brad Right, head chef and owner respectively. Two people making magic in the donut world!

Tuesday 8/23/16 menu selections. Check out them radical flavors!

I'd give points for color/visual appeal alone! Ube Taro back left corner two (vegan and traditional) only two I found just OK vice outstanding. Taro of course being a acquired taste for most non native Hawaiian folks like me.

Fresh, made daily, in-house, all natural no preservative vegan donuts baby!

One full box of goodness for the group!

My personal favorite of them all. Blueberry Lemon Meringue! OMG heavenly!

Just Vegg'n out lately....

I have several close friends both fitness minded and other not so much. Both groups however have worked me pretty hard in my 3 some years now in San Diego to try out the vegetarian landscape, specifically the vegetarian burger in all its forms, shapes and types. I have come to truly enjoy the classical black bean burger quite a bit in the past few years. In the past 8 months I have explored even further and tried other types of vegetarian burgers and found myself really pretty impressed with what I have found. And this coming from a truly hard core meat based burger lover. I am known to almost haunt places like Fuddruckers and Slaters 50/50 for their meat based burgers and build it yourself design features. 

This past week I wanted to put the veggie burger to the test and see how I would respond to the top 4 highest rated veggie burgers as rated by Yelp.com in the San Diego County area. The 4 venues below are what came up and so on a Wednesday afternoon I hit the road and made stops at each venue to get a take out order of their #1 selling veggie burger. Below is what I sampled out. To be frank, I would order each one again no questions asked. Although black bean(any bean) veggie burgers are still my personal favorite, I must say, I am a fan of others as well such as those made from quinoa, tempeh, hemp seeds, soy, and ancient grains now as well. 

Leave it to a city like SD to take an alternative to the real thing and answer the demand of the cities vegetarians and go all out with a worthy product that even this meat freak finds appealing and worthy of calling A Better Bite!

 Evolution Fast Food

Mushroom Swiss Burger $7.25

Black bean patty, lettuce, tomato, Swiss, sauteed mushrooms, Vegan Mayo (I omitted this)

The melted Swiss and mushroom over the bean patty was amazing! You don't go wrong with a classic like this!

Native Foods

NATIVE SOUTHWESTERN BURGER $10.29 

Signature savory patty with guacamole, Santa Fe salsa and spicy grilled jalapeños, served on a multi-grain ciabatta.

Loved the almost real texture and taste of crispy fried chicken in this burger. Very hearty and complementary use of bread choice for this burger.

Plant Power Fast Food

The Rambler $7.95

Organic black bean patty, crispy onion rings, cheddar 'cheese', BBQ, chipotle 'aioli', lettuce and tomato.

An amazing combo of ingredients that really made it feel, look ans taste like an authentic beef burger. Loved the onion rings and cheddar cheese on this bad boy. Great sauces as well!

 Veggie Grill

Grilled Quinoa + Veg Burger 10.95 

Scratch-made blend of organic quinoa + kale + mushrooms, Chao cheese, house-pickled onions, arugula, veg mayo, drizzled cilantro pesto. 

The simplest construction of them all, only some arugula and pickled onions were on this one besides the patty, "cheese" and bun. Very nice earthy taste and chewy patty however.

San Diego is on a ROLL......of the sushi burrito kind!

Products from 4 of the leading sushi burrito joints in San Diego according to Yelp.

Sushi Freak's The Gunshow ($12)

Kudos goes and thanks goes to Jennifer and Tito!

Poke Chop's Lucky Charm ($11)

Kudos and thanks goes to Albert!

Pokirrito's The Pokirrito Classic ($12.50)

Rolled Up's Little Crunchy Guy ($10)

Kudos and thanks goes to James!

I thought for sure this new craze for a Japanese+Mexican fusion of classics, the burrito and the sushi long roll was a for certainly short lived fad soon to fizzle out among the tried and true traditionalist of both Mexican burrito lovers and Japanese sushi aficionados of which San Diego has many in both respects. After months of existence and actually noticing growth in the trend, my eyebrows were raised. I should have known better then to think San Diego would not be open minded (and mouths open) to this fusion of the cuisines. I mean any city that takes bacon and doctors it up in the endless ways that this city does should already set expectations higher then normal right?

The sushi-burrito is no different. With 4 major players in the city, some with multiple locations already and others although new are the hot-spots to be found at tells me pretty clearly that the people found something the love and they want more of it!

I had heard and seen enough and finally gave in and said that's it! I need to see what this is all about. It was not a far reach as I am already a true sushi nut whom readily goes out for rainbow rolls and hand rolls once a week almost every week of the year. What did I have to lose right?

On a Wednesday right after work about 4pm I made my rounds to each of the 4 establishments above and picked up that venues best selling sushi burrito and ordered it exactly as it comes on the menu with no alterations. I watched each item crafted in an almost assembly line fixed pattern of perfection and detail by chefs that have clearly honed their skills. Every venue had a particular way of blending, layering, combining and construction these massive sushi burrito rolls that fit their name to a T!

I got my goods, scooted on home and broke out the spread for pictures and samples. Being in contest prep diet mode yet, it did prevent me from being able to dive in and devour every roll start to end (and I would have!) but for me it was a disciplined but generous bite or two of each roll to get a good idea of the flavor, texture, unique combination of sauces, sushi, veggies, rice and all the goodness.

I cant compare any 1 roll to another since each roll was vastly different then all other others. That said I cant rank them best to worst. In fact not one was bad at all. I would hands down order each roll again no question.

With many more rolls to try on each venues menu from build it yourself to other classic designed rolls I see many trips back into each place for my sushi burrito fix when it hits me. Having now seen what the hype is all about, I guess I can say I see "how this city rolls" with the trending changes of the San Diego culinary landscape.

I hope this post has shown you yet one more way to find yourself "A Better Bite."

I Scream for (Healthy) Ice Cream!

In the past month I have been on a kick for ice cream as my post exercise carb source of choice. Being hotter then blazes out lately nothing seems to fit the bill better then an icy cold almond milk blended protein shake and some ice cream. During this time I have been checking out some brands of ice cream marketed as being healthier versions of the real thing. This is not the same thing as frozen yogurt types which are by their nature healthier than ice cream. Nor is this the same as half the fat, "lite" or "no sugar added" types of ice cream. This is a review ONLY about products that are intended to be ice cream alternatives for the health conscious folks like me who still want to get my fix without the guilt of cheating on my diet. 

So in the past 4 weeks these are the 3 brands I have been sampling. I have tried about 4-5 flavors from each brand and found which one from each I liked best. This is not a what is best kind of review simply because you cannot compare different flavors head to head. Its like red apples to green apples to golden apples.....all similar yes but not the same thing. I post the facts from the websites for each of my brand favorites. Take a look and then go try them yourself and you be your own judge for what you like best. I really don't think you will find yourself disappointed with any of the 3 options below. Enjoy this cool treat during these blazing days of San Diego summer and relish in the calories your saving without even knowing it. And think.....you just found a way to have "A Better Bite."

ARCTIC ZERO

Special findings: 

Lowest protein content
Low calories
Longest list of ingredients
Super deep and rich brownie flavor

Melts very quickly
Chunks of tasty brownie like bits packed inside

 ENLIGHTEND 

Special findings: 

Highest protein content
skim milk/milk as main ingredient
5g a fiber per serving
very good combo of sweet caramel salt

does not melt too fast

most expensive

HALO TOP CREAMERY

Special findings: 

High protein content
Lowest in calories
Shortest list of ingredients
Creamiest in texture
Very authentic strawberry flavor